Japan healthcare

Eisai’s profit rises by 32% in FY2018

May 21st 2018 | Japan | Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology | Eisai

On May 15th Eisai Co Ltd reported a 32% rise in net attributable profit to ¥51.9bn (US$472.3m) for the fiscal year ended March 31st, helped by a drop in financial costs and other expenses. The Japanese drugmaker posted an 11% rise in revenue to ¥600bn on higher sales of its cancer, anti-epilepsy and anti-obesity drugs.

Eisai said that combined revenue from its four brands—Halaven, Lenvima, Fycompa and Belviq—increased by 25% to ¥91.5bn. Pharmaceutical revenue rose across most regions, including China and Japan, as well as markets in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. At 21%, Asia and Latin America recorded the highest percentage sales rise.

Revenue was also bolstered by a lump-sum payment received from a deal with Merck & Co Inc. In March Eisai agreed to license the development and marketing rights of its cancer drug, Lenvima, to Merck. The drug will be developed both as a monotherapy and in combination with Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab) to tackle multiple cancer types.

The deal, worth up to US$5.7bn, involved Merck making an upfront payment of US$300m, and up to US$650m in follow-up payments by March 2021 for exercising certain options. Eisai expects to record ¥632bn in revenue in the fiscal year ending March 31st 2019, up by 5% from a year earlier. It forecast an 11% rise in attributable profit to ¥57.5bn.